


The Desert and the Moon:A Memoir of NASA, 1960-1993

by MrToddWilkins (orphan_account)



Series: The Jeannieverse [1]
Category: 1960s RPF, 1970s RPF, 1980s RPF, 1990s RPF, I Dream of Jeannie, Space Explorers RPF, The Six Million Dollar Man
Genre: F/M, Memoirs, No Bashing, Novelization, Reminiscing, all the canon
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-07-17
Updated: 2020-07-18
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:34:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 727
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25346311
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/MrToddWilkins
Summary: Dr Rudy Wells tells his story.
Relationships: Cara Walker & Rudy Wells, Cara Walker/Rudy Wells, Steve Austin/Jaime Sommers, Thomas Stafford & Steve Austin (Six Million Dollar Man) & Frank Santelli
Series: The Jeannieverse [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1753870





	1. Foreword

I have never begun a book with more misgivings. If someone calls it a novel,it will only be because they don't know what else to call it. I have little actual story to tell,insofar as the movances of NASA and the USAF during the better part of the Space Age can really be a story. It doesn't end with a death,although it does with two marriages:my own and that of a friend. Marriage,of course,ends one phase of life and begins it anew:thus I leave my reader up in the air at the ending of it.

The knowledgeable reader will know of the two main secondary subjects of my work, Anthony Nelson and Steven Austin. At the time of writing, Mr Nelson and Mr Austin are both full colonels in the USAF. They have both consented to be 'portrayed', as it were, in my book. A fair portion of this work consists of my reminiscences of these men and what they accomplished in space and on the Earth. Through the use of interviews with these men, as well as 'authors' privilege', I have contrived to be able to describe events where I wasn't directly present or at least involved. This at least gives some measure of depth and versimilitude to my narrative.

But unlike Maugham, I can at least pretend that there exist verbatim reports of at least some of the events I profess to retell. I have also,where possible,delved into the official NASA archives, stored at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt,Maryland, and the OSI archives in Seattle and Harrisburg. Several space histories, principally The History of Manned Space Flight by Dr James Greenwood and Mr Edgar Cortright, have also bern of great help. My most reliable resource is my own wife, Ms Cara Walker Wells of Sweet Valley,California, who helped typeset this book. I can only hope you enjoy.

Dr Rudy Wells  
April 1994  
Houston 


	2. The Boy from Hagerstown

It is best to begin a story at the beginning, so I will begin there at the beginning of my life. I was born at Hagerstown Community Hospital on July 10,1933,about noon,the second son of Thomas Wells Jr and Ellen Brown Wells. My older brother Sam was 4 years old at my birth,and my second brother James was born on Easter Sunday in 1938. Myself and James are still alive:a car accident took Sam on October 7,1968, aged 40. His wife Lucy and son Joey were in the car with him. Both survived with minor injuries:Sam took the brunt of the injuries and died in hospital the next day. Finally we have my sister Ellen, born on May 3,1947. James lives in Beaumont,Texas,where he is a driving instructor. Ellen, now Ms Ellen Wells Johnston, lives in Portsmouth,Virginia with her husband Steven and their five children. The Wells family comes of Anglo-Dutch background:we were Catholic,and I was baptized on Palm Sunday in 1935,but in practice we seldom went to church other than on religious holidays.

I feel that it is no exaggeration to say that it was mostly my mother and my aunt, Ms Audrey Brown McPherson, who raised me. Although not abusive or neglectful, my father preferred to focus more on Sam than on me. Between Sam and myself there was no bad blood,however:certainly I never felt like we were competing for attention. He was the more literary sibling,and I preferred to focus more on science and the arts. From the age of 7 I could paint as well as any local boy:when I was 10 I and my friend Kevin Anderson won an award for making a model volcano with soda pop. Kevin and his family lived some streets down from us,in an old brownstone house that was the pride of the neighborhood.

When I was 8,the infamous Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor happened,and the US entered the Second World War. At the beginning of February 1942,my father went before a medical and physiological evaluation committee based in Leesburg,VA. They judged that he was too old for active service,but could serve stateside in a logistical role. He was assigned to a servicing detachment in Ireland,and later to the radar unit based at Bushey Park.


End file.
